Liquid crystalline compounds have been utilized as an important material that functions as an optical shutter in a liquid crystal display device represented by so-called liquid crystal display and the like. Recently, various kinds of optical compensating materials have been developed in order to improve display characteristic, especially display characteristic at the time when the display is viewed from oblique directions (see, for example, JP-A-2000-155216 (“JP-A” means unexamined published Japanese patent application) and JP-A-2000-98133). The optical compensating materials are prepared by orientating a low-molecular liquid crystal material and then fixing the formed orientation, as well as by stretching a polymer or orienting a liquid crystal polymer (see, for example, JP-A-2003-261511). The method of using a low-molecular liquid crystal material has such excellent advantages that relatively high orientation speed is achieved and optical characteristics are hardly changed by virtue of fixation of orientation made by the use of polymerization reaction or the like, compared to the method using the liquid crystal polymer material. In the case of using the low-molecular liquid crystal material, optical characteristics are affected by orientation of the liquid crystalline compounds. Therefore, in some cases, various additives are used in combination with the low-molecular liquid crystal material in order to regulate the orientation. Further, in some cases, a multi-functional monomer is used in combination with the low-molecular liquid crystal material in order to increase film strength (see, for example, JP-A-2002-296423).
However, the method, in which a low-molecular liquid crystal material is oriented, and then the orientation is fixed, sometimes causes defects owing to turbulence of orientation at the time of fixation of the orientation, which results in deterioration of optical characteristics. Besides, the additives that are added to regulate the orientation of liquid crystal materials or to increase film strength sometimes reduces a phase transition temperature of the liquid crystal, or necessitates to increase a film thickness owing to deterioration of optical characteristics, or causes deterioration of optical characteristics owing to phase separation. Accordingly, there is a demand for improvement in theses problems.